Publications by authors named "Ribhi M Shawar"

Article Synopsis
  • The rise of SARS-CoV-2 sparked the development of numerous serology assays to detect antibodies, leading to a trans-government collaboration in April 2020 aimed at evaluating these assays for FDA regulatory purposes.
  • Three evaluation panels were formed, consisting of 110 samples each, to test for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), ensuring agreement on seropositivity from reliable labs.
  • By January 2021, the results of 91 tests showed varying sensitivity and specificity rates, with about one-third of the assays receiving FDA authorization for emergency use, establishing a framework for future assessments during outbreaks.
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The FDA-CDC Antimicrobial Resistance Isolate Bank was created in July 2015 as a publicly available resource to combat antimicrobial resistance. It is a curated repository of bacterial isolates with an assortment of clinically important resistance mechanisms that have been phenotypically and genotypically characterized. In the first 2 years of operation, the bank offered 14 panels comprising 496 unique isolates and had filled 486 orders from 394 institutions throughout the United States.

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Retapamulin is a new topical pleuromutilin antibiotic for the treatment of skin and skin-structure infections, including impetigo. In vitro studies indicate that retapamulin has a unique mode of action that minimizes the potential for target-specific cross-resistance with other antibacterials and a limited potential for resistance development. Its spectrum of activity includes the most likely causative pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes.

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Determining the genetic characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus is important for better understanding of the global and dynamic epidemiology of this organism as we witness the emergence and spread of virulent and antibiotic-resistant clones. We genotyped 292 S. aureus isolates (105 methicillin resistant and 187 methicillin susceptible) using a combination of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing, and SCCmec typing.

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Background: The majority of recent community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the United States have been caused by a single clone, USA300. USA300 secretes Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin, which is associated with highly virulent infections.

Methods: We sequenced the PVL genes of 174 S.

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Background: New antibacterial agents with activity against pathogenic strains resistant to established antibiotics are needed to treat patients with secondarily infected dermatitis (SID).

Objective: We sought to determine the clinical safety and efficacy of topical retapamulin ointment 1% versus oral cephalexin for the treatment of SID.

Methods: Patients with SID were randomly assigned to retapamulin ointment 1% (twice daily [bid]) for 5 days, or oral cephalexin (500 mg bid) for 10 days.

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A fluoroquinolone prodrug, PA2808, was prepared and shown to convert to the highly active parent drug PA2789. In vitro and in vivo activation of PA2808 by alkaline phosphatase was demonstrated using disk diffusion and rat lung infection models. The water solubility of PA2808 showed a marked increase compared to PA2789 over a pH range suitable for aerosol drug delivery.

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